Tasting - Bay Bridge American Chardonnay

Name: Bay Bridge American Chardonnay
Variety of Grape(s): Chardonnay
Country of Origin: United States of America
Region of Origin: Central Valley California
Vintage Year: None
Price: $3.99

Historically, chardonnay has been my go-to wine. I have only been drinking for the past year and a half, so I felt like it was a good intro wine with an easy drink and a nice flavor profile. Tonight, we tasted two chardonnays at different price points. Our first was the Bay Bridge, at the low price of $3.99 (cheaper than a Hokie water!), meaning each glass was only about $0.80. The poor college kid in me rejoiced at this price point. This has to be one of the cheapest ways to get drunk! However, every other part of myself told me to steer clear from whatever awful experience an $0.80 glass of wine would bring.

According to Wine Folly, Chardonnays typically have strong fruity characteristics, with some sweetness and butter notes on top (Page 96). Flavors can range from tropical fruits to tree fruits, to citrus fruits, with some nice earthy and woody notes brought out through aging in oak barrels (Page 97).

Wine Critic Review: According to Catalin G. on Vivino.com (153 ratings on the site at 82nd highest in Moldova):

"There are bad wines, really bad wines and then there's this wine. It's so bad that even freezing it and drinking it ice cold doesn't help."

After I got the first whiff of this wine, I was already leaning towards Catalin's take. Behind some tamer sour grape notes, there was this off-putting bile scent that overpowered everything else. I found myself hesitating to swirl my glass to give myself a reprieve from the nauseating odor.

Fortunately, though the taste was far from wonderful, it wasn't as bad as the scent. There was a strong imbalance leaning towards acidity with strong flavors of sour grape and citrus fruit. At the same time, I noticed a similar off-putting yeasty flavor that reminded me of spoiled yogurt or rotten meat. These flavors covered up most other desirable flavors of apple and pear that I only noticed on the first taste. I did not pair any kind of snack with it in order minimize any tainting of the true taste of the wine, which I later grew to regret.

I'd say this wine was not good. Quite bad, actually. I give it a 1.5/5 rating because though it was bad, I was still able to stomach it and get a full glass down. This was a bit of a mistake, however, because following this tasting, I had a second chardonnay tasting, and 3 wine and cheese pairings. This was not a good base for the rest of the night, and it made the thought of putting anything else into my stomach as nauseating as the wine itself.